Tag Archives: birds

This is an online version of a handout I created for my weekly Education for Ministry seminar at Elmwood Correctional Facility (County Jail – in Milpitas, California). The students in EfM Year 1 (the Hebrew Bible) were reading Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Here are twenty varied images of God, dated from 527 – 2014, plus Bible verses describing God, for class discussion.

Pictures of God:

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Pictures of God in the Bible (Selected):

Beasts

1 Bear: “I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps” Hosea 13:8

2 Lamb: “This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:28-29

Birds

3 Eagle: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Exodus 19:4

4 Eagle: “He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.” Deuteronomy 32:10-11

6 Dove: “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.” Matthew 3:16

7 Hen: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”Luke 13:34 and also Matthew 23:37

Woman

8 “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.” Deuteronomy 32:18

9 “From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?” Job 38:29

10 “Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.” (God as a midwife) Psalm 22:9

11 “As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.” Psalm 123:2

12 “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.” Psalm 131:2

13 “For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept myself still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.” Isaiah 42:14

14 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15

15 “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 66:13

16 “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” Hosea 11:3-4

Fire and Clouds

17 “The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night.” Exodus has seven mentions, in: 13:21-21 through 33:10

18 “They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.” Numbers 14:14

19 “The Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.” Deuteronomy 31:15

20 “You led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go.” Nehemiah 9:12 and 9:19

21 “He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.”Psalm 99:7

I was one of the St. Andrew’s prison ministry team who brought worship and song to Elmwood on Christmas Day. When leaving, I noticed a group of lovely deep purple irises blooming next to the back parking lot. Further on, I stopped to take a photo of two ducks on the water behind the jail. Just then, a big white egret erupted from under the bridge where I stood – as if an angel were arising from the water. Because of easy and cheap digital photography and my color printer, I can show the inmates pictures of how nature was celebrating Christmas with them.

The Elmwood class asked for song books in both English and Spanish so that they can sing hymns together. I found Oramos Cantando – We Pray in Song. There are Spanish-only and English-only hymnals but this seems to be the only bilingual song book available. I even checked with our church’s Director of Music – who said he did not know of any. I was able to locate eight paperback copies in good condition for less than $10/each on Amazon, delivered in a week from eight different used book sellers located all over the USA.

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We are just driving home from a week with family in the San Juan Islands at the north end of the State of Washington, just below Canada. This is about a thousand miles driving each way from our home in San Jose, California! All along the way, we saw the looming background presence of some of the largest California-Oregon-Washington mountains: Shasta, Baker, Rainier – part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes and associated mountains around the Pacific Ocean.

In his introductory remarks, John B. Tang (Vice President of Government Relations and Corporate Communications, San Jose Water) said that they expected a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by 15 June 2015. He further mentioned that there has already been a 17 foot drop in groundwater during the last year (subsidence) and that it would take up to 300% of normal rainfall to retreat from the drought. Mr. Tang said that San Jose Water is asking for residential customers to cut 30% of their water usage – by average rather than by individual customer usage. There will be an appeal process published later to address issues of medical needs and larger-than-4 family size. Palle Jensen (Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs, San Jose Water) and Bob Day (Director of Customer Service, San Jose Water) also spoke. Mr. Jensen in particular expressed his frustration in only having 25 days to prepare their plan. He several times blamed the plan’s shortcomings on the short development time allowed and on requirements given to San Jose Water by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and other agencies.

My son Paul and I were among about 350 upset local citizens, landowners, and small business owners who attended the meeting. All who spoke objected to how the San Jose Water Company has chosen to respond to the Governor’s new water reduction order. Of the dozens who came to the microphone after many hours of patiently standing in line in the auditorium, no one objected to conserving water or minimized the seriousness of the California drought, now in its fourth year. They did energetically disapprove of how the San Jose Water Company proposes to respond.

Specifically:

California’s Executive Order calls for a 25% water usage reduction as compared 2013 and directs that “These restrictions should consider the relative per capita water usage of each water suppliers’ service area, and require that those areas with high per capita use achieve proportionally greater reductions than those with low use.” [emphasis added]

The San Jose Water Company’s plan calls for a 30% reduction of the average water usage across residential customers. Apartments and business will only have to reduce landscape watering. However, private homes will have in addition to conserve inside water usage. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 31% of City of San Jose citizens live in “Housing units in multi-unit structures” – that is, about a third of area housing that will not have to conserve water under this plan.

The single most recommended change requested by the public to the San Jose Water plan was to ask that reductions be based on individual (per capita) usage for all customers rather than by average of only residential customers.

The criticism most frequently expressed at the hearing was that no notes were taken by the three executives (other than to record who spoke and what city they came from) and no recording was made – indicating that this meeting was only for legal requirements, rather than to listen seriously. There was no indication that the San Jose Water Company proposal would be modified before its submission to the PUC. However, the executives did say that they would consider changes to the program in the future.

The size of a residential lot is not taken into consideration in the proposed plan. Several speakers from the public said that they have many large trees that will die without water this summer. One woman with a big lot said she had already deeply cut her water use and the new plan would require her to cut 88% of her water usage in addition to paying much higher water rates because of drought surcharges. She said it cost her over $4,000/each to have large dead trees removed so that they did not create a fire hazard. Another man with a larger property said he had already cut his water usage by 45% but was being asked to reduce even more. The San Jose Water executives eventually mentioned that the Santa Clara Valley Water District has an agricultural exemption program that homeowners who grow their own food or have orchards can investigate.

Some businesses (commercial nurseries, golf courses) are exempt from the restrictions; however, swimming pool and spa companies will not be allowed to fill new pools. About five of the speakers from the audience identified themselves as being associated with pool or spa companies who foresaw serious job losses. They said that swimming pools use less water than even drought-resistant landscaping (and one third of the water of a grass lawn), so the restriction on filling new pools did not make sense.

One speaker reported that other water companies in the San Francisco Bay Area are being far less strict in their requirements of customers. For example, the nearby East Bay Municipal Utility District (“East Bay MUD”) is only seeking to reduce water use by 20%.

Several speakers objected to San Jose Water encouraging neighbors to tattle on each other. There is even a special webpage to make local spying easy. (Compare this to a southern California community that last month started giving cash rewards to their Water Saver of the Month to encourage conservation success.)

Our own family lives in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, part of the San Jose Water Company’s service area. We have a large lot bordered by the Guadalupe River. As I wrote in February, the Guadalupe River in San Jose was dry in summer 2014 for the first time since we bought our house 18 years ago. The river rose this winter but only a few water pools are left now. Our riparian property is home to a large number and variety wild animals, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. We have dozens of very large trees – old native oaks, cottonwoods, redwoods, ashes, olives and other nut and fruit trees – that are already stressed by the long drought. We have been reducing our water use for many years and are in the process of applying to the Landscape Conversion program of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. That is, we are letting our lawn die and planning to replace the grass with less-water-hungry plants. We will redirect the lawn water to do what we can to save our trees. Fires set by the homeless who often settle along the riverbank are a big concern for us. There was a serious fire caused by a campfire a few years ago just upstream from our house. We are very motivated to keep our trees watered and in good health to reduce fire risk.

“How to Fight Drought:
When drought comes, and with it the possibility of local bans on lawn watering or punishing hikes in water bills, what can you do? It’s too late at that point to install a water-conserving landscape, but you can take steps to save the plants you have.Save established trees and shrubs first. These are costly to replace and have the greatest impact on your landscape. (A lawn can be replaced with sod in an afternoon, but a 70-foot-tall redwood can take 20 years or more to replace)….”

Laura Biche and I drove to San Francisco yesterday to see the 7th day of the America’s Cup. Unfortunately, after almost an hour of hunting and finally finding parking at Fort Mason, yesterday’s boat races were called off due to winds. Laura and I made the best of our afternoon by walking through the art galleries and museums at Fort Mason, ending with an memorably delicious dinner with John Plocher at Greens Restaurant. A day well spent!

The 148th Scottish Highland Gathering and Games is a major San Francisco Bay Area annual event featuring music, dance, crafts, and sporting competitions. I particularly enjoyed the presentation by the California Foundation for Birds of Prey. Most of their talk was about the modern hunting sport of falconry (including how breeding programs helped to bring back the endangered peregrine falcon), some was about conservation practices to protect birds, and the rest was show and tell. The presenters showed a variety of hawks, falcons, eagles, owls and even a vulture. Four women handlers flew their Harris Hawks over the audience. The Harris Hawk is an unusually gregarious bird – family packs hunt together (compared to most raptors that hunt alone). The announcer teased the handler for the Peregrine Falcon who sported a pink mohawk hairstyle – saying that he was part cockatiel.

This is very much a family event with parents and children in Scottish costume – and others who wore their Renaissance Fair or Dickens Fair costumes regardless. There were many buff guys strutting around in plaid skirts – sometimes with bands of other men but often with little kids in their burly tattooed arms. Scottish costume ranged from historically accurate tartans with full clan accessories, to camo pattern utilikilts worn with tshirts and hiking boots.

In one of the craft halls, I discovered that my Dickinson family may be historically associated with the Paisley district tartan. I knew that some ancestors originated in Scotland but this was the first time I saw our name associated with a tartan.